The oil spill and what it means to Long Island

A Long Island environmentalist marked the 86th day of the BP oil spill in the Gulf Coast on July 15 with a presentation to the community at the East Meadow Public Library about the disaster and what can be done locally to help in the future.       
   
The speaker was Adrienne Esposito, who is the executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, calls the oil spill the largest environmental disaster in history.       
   
So far, reports show that 1,500 million gallons of oil have spewed into the Gulf. If the leak continues, some predict it could possibly go up the East Coast as far as North Carolina.  
   
However, with tides and currents, Esposito explained it is almost impossible to know exactly where the oil could end up. The Long Island Sector of the Coast Guard said it is 95 to 99 percent certain the oil will not make it to Long Island beaches. If it does, the most vulnerable area would be the South Shore, they said. A hurricane could expedite the process, sweeping the oil further up the East Coast, but the Coast Guard has researched what would happen in this situation.
  
If the winds from a hurricane brought oil to Long Island, the Coast Guard says the winds would be strong enough to break up the oil into smaller particles that are easier to manage.        
   
Esposito said she is shocked the federal government did not have a better plan for this type of disaster. The techniques that are being used to clean up the oil seem amateurish for the technology that should be available in 2010, she said.       
   
The people helping to clean up the oil are using inflatable floating lines to contain oil on the water's surface called “booms,” but the effectiveness of the booms is debatable. Volunteer cleaners are also using plastic bags to catch the oil that are just being tossed into landfills.